Rev. Rebecca Heilman-Campbell
Acts 2: 1-13
I’ve only taken one dance lesson in my life.
With reckless two left feet,
my husband and I signed up for a class
a few months before we I got married.
We didn’t catch on quick, to say the least.
As a natural leader, I kept placing my hand in the wrong place,
wanting to take Douglas in the direction I wanted to go!
As a natural leader, himself, he wouldn’t follow.
He went one way, I went another.
By the end of the lesson, we were still terrible
BUT we had the idea down.
I would lead at certain points in the dance and Douglas at others.
We leaned into and trusted each other when it was our turn.
We gently nudge each other forward.
And isn’t that how the Holy Spirit tends to work?
She takes hold of our hands and nudges us in the direction of our faith.
The Spirit pushes us, guides us, welcomes us to take a step with her.
Often when we hear the Pentecost passage
we focus on the ears that are hearing new languages
and mouths speaking new foreign words.
Less often do we think about the impact this passage has on our bodies
and the body of the church as a whole.
The community in our passage today is diverse.
Jewish pilgrims from all over are gathering in Jerusalem to celebrate
the Jewish Festival of Pentecost.
They were there to praise God’s gracious provisions
of harvested food and land.
They all speak different tongues, different languages, different dialects.
They had different cultures and ways of life, diverse in image and skin color.
And so, as we just heard, the disciples are gathered in a room, at this festival,
when the Holy Spirit dramatically, uncontrollably fills the community.
A new tongue rests on each of them.
They are filled with the Holy Spirit
and begin to speak each other languages.
Suddenly, they are able to converse and understand all the people
gathering in Jerusalem for Pentecost.
It’s now not only a diverse community,
but an inclusive and egalitarian community as well.
This is a game changer for everyone.
Bewilderment took over the crowd
because they could each hear and speak is each other’s native languages.
Amazement, astonishment, perplexity was in the air.
Have you ever been bewildered by the Spirit?
She can be a cheeky Spirit when we don’t listen.
My mom tells this story of riding back on a church bus
after being in Louisiana for Hurricane Katrina relief with our church at home.
She was exhausted
and just wanted to nap for a couple of hours.
Just before we settled into the window with her pillow,
our pastor leaned over to her
and asked if she would say something in worship on Sunday
about their time in Louisiana.
Mom said, no way!
I am not comfortable speaking in front of large crowds,
you cannot ask me to do that. I’m sorry but ask someone else!
Mom settled in, closed her eyes and an hour later, she was still awake.
She says she felt restless and uneasy.
Something was stirring in her.
She couldn’t get comfortable and she couldn’t stop thinking about her week
and what she might say if she were to present something to the church.
She groaned out loud, turn to Pastor Kevin, rolled her eyes and said, I’ll do it.
She fell asleep almost immediately.
Mom likes to say, God kicked her in the butt that day.
I like to think the Spirit pushed her with confidence and hope
that she had what it takes to do something that scared her.
Gosh, we are no different from the first church.
Think about it.
We walked into this Sanctuary today,
uncomfortable with being pushed forward out of our regular seats.
We had to sit next to people we don’t usually sit next to
and then we’re invited to sing
in a way that is foreign to our native hymn sing ways.
What little choice we have today and yet, have you felt the Spirit move?
And what about Trinity?
We are in a place of discernment and transition.
As you’ve heard from The Way Forward Cottage meetings,
big decisions will need to be made about Trinity and its future.
Just like the followers of God in that room,
we are bewildered of how we got here
fearful of the unknown,
maybe cautious and skeptical of the Spirit’s work
who has already moved through a group of leaders in our congregation.
We wonder deeply,
what is God up?
Because God is up to something, whether we accept it or not.
And if you look at our story, they had the same questions
and what happened?
The church began!
The Spirit moving and pushing, guiding and pulling,
swaying and whooshing in and around everyone in uncontrollable manners.
As Frederick Beuchner says,
“The spirit of God, Holy Spirit, Holy Ghost, is highly contagious.”1
We can’t run from it.
We can’t hide from it.
We have no choice
but to be nudged forward with confidence and hope
that we can do something that might scare us.
The church had no choice but to begin that Pentecost day.
It was out of their control,
as much as God working in this church today is out of our control.
And so where will the Spirit move us?
Where do we have no choice at Trinity
but to be nudged along by a contagious Spirit?
My friends, if we open our hearts, our trust, our hope in the providential God,
That we affirm as our faith each week,
we know the Spirit gathers and protects,
1 https://www.frederickbuechner.com/quote-of-the-day/2018/11/10/spirit
but also opens and challenges, provoking and pushing us along.
She moves us to tears
and helps us to make bold decisions for the life of the church
and the life of its people.
The church had no choice but to begin that Pentecost day.
What choice do we have? If any?
Pray with me. Loving God, we believe. Help our unbelief. Amen